What if?
by RunawayTelephones
Summary: What if, in the Pandorica Opens, when Amy asked the Doctor about the engagement ring, the Doctor had replied, "You weren't supposed to see that?" Unashamedly fluffy in some parts.
1. Scenario

**A/N: A little what if situation set during the Pandorica Opens about my favorite two characters- Amy and the 11****th**** Doctor.**

The "What ifs" of a Time Lord

_What if, in the Pandorica Opens, when Amy asked the Doctor about the engagement ring, the Doctor had replied, "You weren't supposed to see that?"_

"You weren't supposed to see that," the Doctor said, taking the box from Amy, closing it shut, and placing it in his top jacket pocket.

"Why? Doctor, are you planning on proposing to me? I mean, that would be a little weird, considering we haven't even gone on a proper date yet-" Amy started to talk quickly.

"Amy-" the Doctor tried to interrupt.

"Out of all this time traveling with you, and you never even take me on one date! Sure, we've been to Venice, and Space Britain, and even Rome now, but never a date," Amy continued talking at her high speed, obviously nervous or embarrassed. She was digging herself into a hole faster and faster.

"Amy-" the Doctor tried to interrupt her again, to help her stop talking. But it was no use.

"And then a ring? A wedding ring? Without any warning!" Amy stopped for a moment to take a breath. The Doctor was about to talk again, he had his mouth open and everything, but Amy was quicker. "Doctor, I want to go on a date."

The Doctor paused, knowing full well that his mouth was still hanging wide open from the words he never got a chance to say, but he didn't do anything about that. The shock of what Amy had just said overrode every other protocol in his mind.

"Amy Pond, are you asking me on a date?" the Doctor asked in utter confusion. Amy shrugged and twirled a strand of her red hair around one finger.

"Maybe I am," she said a little more quietly.

The Doctor was speechless. He had not meant for this to happen. It was a mistake, keeping the ring Rory had given her around in a place where she could find it. And, since she didn't remember Rory, all she knew is that the Doctor had a wedding ring with him and he was traveling with her, so her mind jumped to that conclusion.

"Amy Pond, asking me on a date," the Doctor repeated, mostly for the sake of his own processing. Amy was beginning to look increasingly uncomfortable, playing more and more with her hair.

"Yeah, I am," she responded, trying to sound more confident than she looked.

The Doctor ran a hand through his messy hair, not knowing exactly what to do. How had this happened? One moment they were talking about normal things, doing their usual running and exploring, and then it had fallen apart when Amy found the ring. The Doctor knew he shouldn't even be considering saying yes- he should be thinking about how to make her remember Rory, even if that seemed impossible.

"You can say no, you know," Amy added on with a tone that sounded just desperate for an answer. And the Doctor knew he could no longer put off his answer, though he wished to.

"Well then, Amelia Pond," the Doctor started…

**A/N: I wrote two different endings to this, and I'm still deciding what to do about that. Maybe I should put up both?**


	2. Two Outcomes

_***And then, if you prefer the Doctor saying no to Amy or more angst in your story…***_

"I suppose I should tell you that the wedding ring wasn't for you at all," the Doctor said with a forced light smile.

He didn't want to break Amy's heart anymore than he surely already had, but agreeing to take her on a date would be too much like betraying Rory, even if the man didn't exist anymore. Amy's face lost the almost hopeful expression she'd had and a blush rose to her face even brighter than before.

"Oh," she said softly and simply. She cleared her throat and tucked the strand of hair she'd been playing with back behind her ear. "Well then, who's the lucky girl?" Amy asked, trying to be polite and happy for the Doctor.

He knew that either option was cruel- accepting Amy's offer or rejecting it, but he thought the second would be just a little bit less cruel. Well, he was lying too. The ring really _had_ been for Amy, but the Doctor wasn't the man to propose to her. The Doctor realized that he had stayed silent for a little longer than one normally does when asked that sort of a question.

"Is it River?" Amy asked with mixed emotions. The Doctor wasn't always the best at telling what others' emotions were, especially not girls, but he saw an awkwardness and even, perhaps, a tinge of jealousy. No matter- he couldn't take advantage of Amy when she forgot her fiancé.

"Nah," the Doctor replied airily. He didn't want to open that can of worms. "I just keep around a ring. Just in case, you know?" he added on with a stupid grin. Amy laughed, and it was at least partially genuine.

"Just in case what? A hot girl walks by on another planet?" Amy teased him. And there they were, back to normal. The Doctor smiled back at her, continuing to laugh with her, knowing that this was just how things were.

_***And then, if you prefer the Doctor saying yes to Amy or more fluff in your story…***_

"I suppose I'll have to give you the best first date in all the universe," the Doctor responded to Amy's comment with a smile. Immediately he felt guilt flood over him, but he didn't take back his words. Sure, the Doctor made bad decisions, and he knew it, but this time he thought maybe it would be worth it.

Amy's face broke into a smile back at her Doctor. The Doctor could see relief flood to her face and some of the blush fade as the Doctor accepted what she'd asked of him. She began playing with that strand of hair again in a way the Doctor couldn't help but find adorable.

"Right. Then, as far as opportunities for a date, I think we've got a few more than most people," the Doctor said, spreading his arms out in front of him to demonstrate just how many choices they had.

"Lucky me, then, that I happened to find a madman with a box that's a time machine," Amy said, taking her hand away from her hair and lowering it to grab the Doctor's hand. His fingers grasped around hers and his thumb gently ran over her knuckles.

"And a shape ship, don't forget about that," the Doctor said cheerfully. Amy rolled her eyes at his comment but laughed a little anyway.

"But before we do the dating thing, we should really figure out the Pandorica-and-people-wanting-to-kill-us thing," the Doctor added a bit more seriously. But not _too_ much more serious. Even in the face of danger, the Doctor never lost his sense of amusement, especially not when he had Amelia Pond by his side.

So the two started running, hand in hand, toward what could be the death of them. But they didn't much care- after all, they just had to make it through this, or so the Doctor thought. He had to live; he had a date to make it to after this.

**A/N: So there's the two different endings. I just couldn't decide which way, so I put up both. I personally really like the first one, just because it's much more cannon-compliant, but the second one was Amy/11 and I can't give up on them.**


	3. A Date

**A/N: This is a continuation off of the second outcome of the scenario in the previous chapter and unashamedly fluffy. Read, enjoy, and review.**

It was quite a day. Apparently the TARDIS had decided that the Doctor was not, under any circumstances, to go anywhere exciting. The frustrated Time Lord had entered the coordinates for a lovely place in the 42nd century where the chefs actually traveled through time to get the exact ingredients you requested for your meal and then cooked it in front of you with all sorts of flashy technology, but his ship had other ideas. She had landed him in Leadworth, 2010, in Amy's backyard.

"Oh come on, old girl, Leadworth is _boring_!" the Doctor groaned. "I promised a ginger exciting, and this is far from." Amy was in the other room, getting ready. She'd been away for quite some time, actually, but the Doctor found that was a good happening considering the fact that his ship was firmly stuck in the habit of landing where poor Amelia's shed used to reside. Thankfully, the new shed was built just a bit away from where the old one had been destroyed.

The Doctor put in the coordinates for another exhilarating planet- this time a lovely city made entirely of ice where everyone wore ice skates such as to successfully navigate the terrain. It was a beautiful place, but the TARDIS groaned in obvious disapproval and did not move from where she was parked in boring old Leadworth. "Argh!" the Doctor growled and smacked his palms against the console. This served him no use, save getting a blare of lights in his eyes from an unamused animate time machine.

"Fine then. But remember I'll be blaming you when this goes wrong." The old man glared at his centuries-old blue companion before relenting and removing his hands from the console. "But dear, I'm bad enough as it is with these sorts of things. You could at least be a little helpful," the Doctor murmured. Romance of any sort was not in any way, shape, or form his strong suit. To complicate matters more, his date for the day was a strong-willed ginger, and a Scot to boot. Plus, he had accidentally almost proposed to her in a strange sort of way with her dead (and now nonexistent) husband's engagement ring for her. It was… complicated.

His head was hanging low over the console when Amy Pond stepped into the room. He looked up immediately and noticed- she'd been spending all that time preparing for their date. She had changed out of her leather jacket and miniskirt that she'd been wearing previously, as they'd been dirtied a bit on their previous adventure with the Pandorica, and she'd redone her hair, making it fall in soft twists instead of her normally straight down or pinned back hair. Amy had spent time to look nice for him, and that should make the Doctor happy, but instead it worried him. He had no where exciting to take her that would match up to how she looked.

"Amy! You look…" the Doctor paused. He had never been very good at giving compliments, so he searched for a word. "Different," he settled on. She gave him a curious look, making him wonder if he'd said the right thing. Well, he rarely did when it came to personal matters, so it was probably he hadn't at all.

"Thanks?" Amy replied, more so questioning. So he hadn't gotten it right then. Hopefully Amy would still understand what he'd meant. The Doctor cleared his throat, eager to move on.

"I was going to us to a little place in the 42nd century, but the old girl seems to be having a tantrum and left us in… Leadworth." Amy's eyebrows rose. "Your backyard, actually," the Doctor added as an afterthought. "Actually, now that I think about it, she really must like your backyard. She lands here a lot." That probably wasn't helpful, but Amy laughed anyway, so the Doctor figured he was safe.

"So what you're saying is that, even though you've got a time machine, we're stuck going somewhere I could go any old day at home?" Amy summarized.

"Basically, yeah," the Doctor conceded. Amy shook her head, but with a smile. She took a few steps toward the Doctor and grabbed his hand.

"Well then I guess I'll have to take you somewhere I know." Amy grinned at him and he returned the gesture, allowing her to lead him out of the TARDIS and down the streets of Leadworth. She pointed out a few places along the way- the primary school she'd attended, the post office where she'd sent her letters to Santa, the small duck pond where she'd sat for hours as a kid, just pretending to be an explorer. The Doctor couldn't stop smiling the whole time- he was getting a private tour through the life of Amelia Pond, and he was enjoying every minute of it.

After walking for about a half an hour, still hand in hand the Doctor realized not unpleasantly, they arrived at the destination Amy had in mind- a small diner that only sat a few tables. A small bell rung as the Doctor pushed the door open so Amy could walk in and an shorter middle aged woman smiled warmly at the pair.

"Amy, dear, I haven't seen you in here for a while," the woman greeted kindly. She then turned to the Doctor and gave him a similar look, though this one had even more curiosity. "And who might this be?" the woman asked with a knowing sort of a smile. Amy cleared her throat uncomfortably. The Doctor knew that several people in Amy's hometown had heard of her imaginary friend, but he didn't want to be known as that. Not today. Today he was very real indeed, on a real date with a real Amelia Pond.

"John Smith," the Doctor jumped in to introduce himself. Amy glanced at him from the corner of her eye, obviously surprised at the Doctor's use of an alias.

"Well it's nice to meet you, dear. Why don't I get a table for you two?" The woman showed them to an empty table for two and handed them two menus. "My name is Patty, and I'll be your waitress today. Why don't I give you a few minutes to look over the menu?" The Doctor said that would be fine, and Patty gave Amy a badly concealed wink before leaving, making Amy give her a nervous smile and purposely look away from the Doctor.

The Time Lord opened his menu to avoid making Amy feel uncomfortable (a rather good move, he thought) and scanned it eagerly. Sadly, he saw no fish fingers and custard listed, but there was an omelette that sounded tasty and reminded him of when he'd cooked for Craig. After deciding that would be what he ordered, he looked back up to find Amy already looking at him.

"So, Leadworth," the Doctor said, not sure of what exactly to say. It had been a while since he'd been on a date. Actually, now that he thought about it, he couldn't think of a time that he'd ever actually been on a proper date. How had this happened? Realizing then that two words did not a sentence make, the Doctor spoke again. "It's a nice little place, this diner. Did you come here a lot?" There. A nice, normal question for a normal bloke, with a normal name, on a normal date. He was doing quite well, he thought.

"A few times, yeah. I used to come here for lunch in the afternoon if I skipped school," Amy said with a mischievous smile. The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"Amelia Pond, skipping school? Somehow that doesn't surprise me. You know, I skipped school too. A lot, actually. They threatened to kick me out for it. I was never very fond of the rules they had," the Doctor admitted. Amy laughed, and the Doctor felt good about that much.

"Alight, dears, have you decided yet?" Patty had come back to take their order with a pad of paper and a pencil in hand. The Doctor ordered his omlette and Amy ordered some waffles.

The rest of the time was spent eating and sharing stories for the majority of the time. The Doctor asked why Amy had skipped school and where else she'd gone. She told him about her horrendous calculus teacher who graded unfairly and was boring in lectures, so the ginger decided to go to the diner or just walk around town avoiding adults who knew she was supposed to be in school. Amy in return asked why the Doctor skipped out on class. He admitted that there wasn't much reason besides that he already knew most of the lessons and the ones he didn't, he didn't care to.

Sometimes when the Doctor would make a clever comment, Amy would reach out and touch his arm. It was a small gesture, a normal one even, but the Doctor noticed. Something was different, even if it wasn't an obvious thing. The Doctor in return would try his best to say normal things, besides mentioning his alien academy, and treat Amy in the nicest way possible. He felt bad that she had found the ring at all, and he felt he had to make it up to her. Well, that was the only reason he would admit to himself.

When they'd finished, the Doctor paid for the bill with a wad of money he'd brought with him just in case, not really knowing how much it was. Amy had giggled, whispering in his ear that he'd overpaid considerably, but Patty seemed to be absolutely thrilled and gave the Doctor the most adoring look as well as another knowing glance at Amy. As the Doctor and Amy made to leave, Patty whispered to Amy in a rather loud tone, "That's a keeper you got there." Amy just blushed and hurried the Doctor out the door.

As the pair made their way back to the TARDIS, the Doctor's hand somehow made its way back into Amy's, and she forced him to skip half the way back, so he'd threatened he would sing the whole way. He followed through on that, singing "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" in a scratchy voice as they skipped to the blue box. By the time they reached the time machine, both went bent over from laughter. The Doctor opened the door again for Amy and closed it behind them, his grin and laughter still remaining. Amy looked right at him, and something moved within him. He didn't believe how nice it felt just to have some time at a diner, in boring Leadworth of all places. What felt even better was the look Amy was giving him- one of careless happiness.

"Amelia Pond," he said, pronouncing each syllable carefully. "You are amazing." She cocked her head slightly to the side, her hair falling over her shoulder as she did so. Amy then came closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Thank you, Doctor." She paused for a moment, not moving, as if deciding something, but then she closed the distance between them in a tight hug. The Doctor returned the embrace, placing his one hand gently in her soft red hair. After what seemed like far too short a time, Amy pulled away, still smiling, but much softer now.

"I'll be right back," the Doctor said, retreating back to the hallway of the TARDIS. He wanted to get something. He didn't quite know what, maybe some jewelry, maybe find some flowers on this ship of his, but he paused after reaching a point where he was out of sight from Amy, hearing her speak quietly to the ship.

"So no kiss on the porch. Not that you even have a porch," Amy muttered to the ship. The Doctor turned around and strode back into the console room, giving up entirely on any thoughts of finding a gift on this machine of his. It was a crazy thought that came to his mind, truly reckless. Immediately after having it, his brain had rebelled against even thinking about it. But with each step that he took toward Amy, he turned his brain off even more. The Doctor swiftly approached Amy and took a gentle hold of each side of her face with both his hands and kissed her without hesitation.

It was hasty, reckless, and most likely stupid, and he would probably regret it later, but he did it anyway. Amy was in temporary shock, but she quickly took hold of the situation and move her arms up to wrap around his neck. Just as she was beginning to enjoy herself, the Doctor broke the kiss. He pulled back slowly, and Amy tried to hold onto his lips with her own, but she couldn't. His eyes locked with hers, her arms still around his neck and his hands falling from her face, and for just a moment, neither one breathed.

"How was that for a date, Pond?" the Doctor murmured. Amy almost rolled her eyes, but she resisted. The Doctor smiled still, not willing to turn the cynical part of his brain back on yet, the part that would yell about Rory and memories forgotten and the fact that she was engaged and human. Instead, he took in every gorgeous feature of Amy Pond's face, pretending she was all there was for him to focus on. And, in that moment, she was.


End file.
